Bowties
by Whereilovekflsh
Summary: The brightness of the memory of her friend made the sight in front of her that much more dramatic. One-shot. AU.


**A/N: Hello lovely readers! This is an AU and stuff. I don't know. Just read, rate, and review. Thanks!**

Lily paced back and forth across the dark musty room and Alice could barely see the girl's movement. If it wasn't for the bright red hair that would occasionally swish into view she might not have noticed her at all. Lily made another dash across the front of the window her fingers swiping at the dirty glass on the way.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped and she heard the girl's body slide down the wall towards the ground. Alice immediately rushed towards her former best friend. When she got close enough her eyes finally adjusted to the lighting and she saw what had become of Lily Evans.

Alice remembered the girl that used to laugh the loudest across the dorm room with her red hair flying as she would jump up and down in her bed and sing lyrics to the muggle songs Alice had never known. The freckles had stood out on her pale white face and the laugh lines making her face brighter than before. Her bright green eyes were a Hogwarts legend that had entranced anyone who looked at her. The brightness of the memory of her friend made the sight in front of her that much more dramatic.

The once bright red hair had lost its luster, it was brittle and broken with patches shorter in areas as if they had been burned off. Her eyes were dull and lifeless with dark black circles showing deep on her face. Alice immediately grabbed an arm to pick up and saw how much weight Lily had lost. Lily immediately stole her arm back to her body, scratching at the spot that Alice had touched as if she had contaminated the redhead.

After the scratching stopped she got back up and started pacing again pushing Alice away in her wake. Alice landed with a thump on the ground and the noise seemed to wake little Neville, who she had left at the door with Frank. Neville began to whimper quietly in want of his mother.

Lily immediately stopped and turned towards the sound she had just heard and for the first time in months, Alice heard Lily speak, "Harry?" She took a step towards Neville until she paused again, "No. No Lily. Harry is dead. Your son is dead. That's just the boy who lived come to taunt you" She began pacing again, faster this time while incoherently mumbling.

Alice was about to speak to Lily when she heard the mention of her son and was stunned into silence. Alice felt nothing but guilt. Her son had lived through the attack on Voldemort while Harry had not fared so well. Lily had been visiting Neville when the Order got the call that there had been an attack. The attack that had ended Harry and James' lives. The attack where Lily's sanity had ceased.

Frank walked over to help Alice up and said, "Try to get her talking. We need to get her back to normal and talking is the first step. Take it slow, nothing serious. And don't mention them."

Alice stared at Frank and in her cheeriest voice said, "Lily honey, do you want to go for a walk? Get some sunlight on that skin of yours? You know how pale you are and Marlene has been tanning for all these months ready to show you up." She was attempting to make Lily smile, or at least emit some feeling other than nervous.

"I can't Alice. I have to get ready. My hair needs to be curled and I need to get James dressed," Lily responded while looking into the window as if she was doing her hair with a curling iron.

Alice's face was shocked and bewildered as she frantically turned towards her husband at the door. "Alice don't dawdle. Go get Harry for me would you? I need to clean him up," Lily said while waving her arm towards the door.

Alice ran over to Frank and dragged him outside. She shut the door and immediately burst into tears. "I can't do this. That is Lily Evans in there. The maid of honor at my wedding, my best friend throughout Hogwarts and all I can do is cry and run away from her. I can't help and it's all my fault that she feels this way because we survived and she didn't and I feel horrible because I am happy that my husband and son survived and I don't understand what is going on."

Frank resituated Neville in his arms and grabbed his wife with his open hand. "Honey, you need to calm down. You won't be useful to her like this. I am going to get Dumbledore because this is worse than we thought and we can't do this alone. I need you to be strong. I need you to be strong because… because this is Lily Evans. She was the maid of honor at your wedding and you need to take care of her like she has done for you for many years. You need to get back in there and you need to help her. I will be right back, I promise." He kissed Alice on the forehead and apparated away.

Alice closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening the door and re-entering the room.

"Finally Alice. James is almost done I just need to fix this bowtie." Lily said while her arms were up in the air as if she was tying a bowtie around a person in front of her.

"James here thought he could get away with not wearing any sort of bowtie. I told him that I would let the messy hair go because he knows I secretly love it but his mother would absolutely kill me if she saw that I let him out of the house without being properly dressed." Lily smacked at the air in front of her, "James Potter stop trying to sneak in kisses while I am getting you dressed this isn't going to get either of us dressed any faster."

Lily began to laugh the glorious laugh that could make everyone look, and Alice began to cry.

**A/N: I know, I'm horrible right? So so so so horrible. I love you all though!**


End file.
